Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen took home the womenswear designer of the year award at the 2012 Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards on Monday. Other award recipients included Billy Reid (menswear designer of the year), Tommy Hilfiger (lifetime achievement award) and Joseph Altuzarra, Phillip Lim and Tabitha Simmons (emerging talent in womenswear, menswear and accessory design, respectively).

On the red carpet, Zoe Saldana and Jessica Chastain—both in Prabal Gurung—and “Mad Men” actress Jessica Paré in Jason Wu brought a bit of Hollywood glamour to the scene. View the slideshow of looks after the jump.

When I arrived at Prabal Gurung’s show in the lobby of the IAC building at noon, the star blogger BryanBoy waved me down. “I was just back stage,” he said, taking a moment from the conversation to pose for a photo (the attraction was either his fur or his turquoise sunglasses). “I feel like (Prabal) has grown up this season.”

BryanBoy is several years from seeing the upside of 30 himself, yet he was absolutely right. It’s not that Gurung’s designs were previously immature. It’s just that the designer struck a brisker, more confident stride for fall, with prints like Rorschach tests, and boot cut pants that defied the neat cropped look on so many other runways.

Neither Dior nor Gucci, with their big time Paris and Milan fashion shows, manages to assemble the front row that gathered in Los Angeles this week at the behest of Vogue magazine and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

How closely do Joseph Altuzarra and Alexander Wang work together? The similarities in their collections are uncanny. White leather, mesh details, and techno fabrics (read some beautifully made form of polyester or nylon) were key factors in both collections.

Mr. Altuzarra exploded onto the scene several seasons ago, when his was one of the buzzy shows that insiders knew to attend. His show may have been slightly less ‘hot’ this season, but the clothes were more sophisticated than before. Seems he has been studying.

The Crowd: With a Clarins heiress there – the very-blond Virginie and Claire Courtin-Clarins have been making the rounds of fashion week for the second season – Mr. Altuzarra can congratulate himself for drawing the right crowd: young, decadently connected, and rich.

Arresting Detail: The tropicalia-galore prints, had everything but live toucans sprouting from them. On their own as a print, they might not be iconic, but in archly formed suits – and more subtle jacket linings – they were downright fun.

About Heard on the Runway

Heard on the Runway provides news about the fashion and retail worlds, as well as fresh analysis and dispatches from the bi-annual fashion shows in New York, Milan and Paris. For complete style coverage, go to WSJ.com/Fashion.